


Distant Stars

by Pusheidon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alpha Keith (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Dancer Lance (Voltron), Detective Keith (Voltron), Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Lance (Voltron), Other additional tags to be added later, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-08-27 19:30:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16708672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pusheidon/pseuds/Pusheidon
Summary: The only thing Keith needs is a good lead,The only thing Lance needs is escape,But maybe what they both need is each other.





	1. Shards of omega

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there,
> 
> I am sorry for some grammatical mistakes that may occur,  
> english is not my first language unfortunately. Also number of chapters may change over time  
> as well there will be some tags added later on :)  
> I will try to post as regularly as I can, thanks for reading! <3

          Cold morning sun brushed sharp features of Keith’s face as he walked into the building. He was finally out of unpleasant November wind, still shivering a little from ride on his motorcycle. Echoing Hi in a bit raspy voice he always had in the morning, to a colleague going home from night shift, not really interested asking her about a night. She slowed down a little, near a coffee machine in lobby, looking at him from behind big glasses which hid half of her face.

         Pushing down on button for coffee with milk and sugar, loud noise of the machine cut through their shared silence while she stared at him. He got that a lot, being one of most successful detectives in whole city, but judging by how tired she looked, with bit of bags under her eyes, notebook in her hand and explosion of hair framing her face, he was just a little bit sooner by coffee machine than she was.

        As soon as Keith had his morning coffee, he slid away from machine saying low goodbye and minding his own business, slowly going through sun lit lobby to elevators on the other side. She may have had a night shift, but he also didn’t get much of sleep for a long time now, as his sleeping pattern became unhealthier, more he worked that case. Keith’s face morphed into a frown as he got into elevator, his finger touched button to third floor, grip on hot cup got tighter, as he thought more about work that was waiting for him. He tried to calm himself down a bit.

         ‘Being more positive would be better for me now’ he though, as he concentrated at elevator music, but it had opposite effect and it annoyed him furthermore as it finally stopped with elevator door opening to precinct area, he worked in. He expected it to be calm with people only arriving, him being first as usual, his mind relaxed as he saw muscular figure sitting by table in small office, writing something down.

        “Shiro?” his voice sounded more grounded and peaceful. It mostly had to do with familiar scent of his alpha captain, who was like brother to him considering, he basically raised him after his dad passed away.

         Keith began to walk towards entrance of small office Shiro was sitting inside. Alpha briefly gazed at him, small smile appearing on his lips.  “Good morning Keith.” He said while finishing writing his report.

       “Morning to you too.” Keith signed as he sat across his brother, sipping coffee. They sat in silence for a while, enjoying each other’s company. They did this almost every morning, since Keith moved away from Shiro’s and Adam’s place. Sure, he had dinner with them every Sunday, but he still missed their combined smell filling whole place with happiness. People were always surprised how could three alphas stand each other for so many years. Keith didn’t understand at first what people were referring to. His dad, who was alpha, raised him and they loved each other very much, but later Adam explained to him that, he and Shiro, as two alphas who are mated together, is still a bit strange and for people hard to believe.

        ‘Some people let themselves be blinded by stereotypes, Keith. Never listen to someone who is trying to tell you who you are supposed to be. Never.’

        Keith smiled at this memory of Adam, bringing hot beverage to his lips, for him those quiet mornings with Shiro were kind of sanctuary, mostly after he took that stupid case. Cursed case as some people on his team were referring to it. Yes, he had to have team for it, it was that big. Opened for decades, collecting almost none-existent evidence of human trafficking, drug dealing, controlling sex industry over the country, murders and control over mafia families all over the nation. Cough small fish dealers and other mafia families referred to them as Galra Empire.

         Keith always thought it was very odd name for mafia family, even though they could be hardly considered a family anymore, but it still sounded unreal for them to call themselves empire. He also knew, that every precinct, sergeant or detective that was given this case either quit their job, wanted to move across state or disappeared under odd circumstances, even after they dropped it. Keith slowly looked at Shiro and his prosthetic arm and scar across his face. They were permanent and obvious features that stood out most when someone met him.

        The thing was, most people didn’t understand that Shiro was excellent fighter. For years Keith knew him, he never had an injury. Never.

        It happened a two years ago. When Keith and Adam were watching some movie with cheap effects, laughing about it, waiting for Shiro to come home, Adam got a call that his significant other was in hospital with severe injuries. It was one of the worst nights Keith ever experienced. Next day angry and distressed Keith demanded answers from Deputy Chief Iverson of what happened, but he was also met with weeping Colleen Holt, wife of Captain Samuel Holt. He, his son and Shiro were a close team especially picked for a Galra empire case. It was rumoured they found out something critical, which picked attention of Sendak, The underboss of Galra empire, who in the end personally haunt them down. Captain Holt and his son disappeared that night without a trace and his brother almost died.

        Just thinking about it made Keith shiver, but it also made him more driven to demand he was given that case. Iverson was against it and he tried to calm Keith down with his omega pheromones, but nothing worked. Keith was angry, and that case was more personal to him then ever before. After two long years, his boss finally gave in, at first, he gently questioned his brother if he remembered about information they gathered. Shiro seemed lost in his memories but after some time he just mumbled “We found out where they have stored illegal suppressants and that cursed drug.”

       “Quintessence?” Keith said without breath.

        It was shock to hear about that drug and it was rumoured, it made people freakishly strong but at the same time highly uncontrollable. But this information, which caused so much pain was in the end for nothing. Back then, by the time armed forces came to the building it was all gone.

       “Keith. Keith! Earth to Keeeith!” Shiro waved his robotic hand before his face, giggling a little.

       “As I tried to say to you before, I have new lead for you.”

       THAT picked Keith’s interest very fast. He straightened his back and moved closer to table, putting down his coffee on it.  “So, I assume you know Coran, my therapist.” Shiro calmly started ignoring Keith’s amused snort. Yes, he knew Coran, but he also thought that man was kind of crazy.

      “How can CORAN be reliable source?” he asked his voice still light with amusement.

      “Because, Coran raised Allura.” Shiro smirked at Keith’s confusion. “She is former prima ballerina, pretty famous dancer actually, but the information you need most is that she is Lotor’s mate.”

      “Zarkon’s only son.” Keith gasped as he stood frankly from his chair, almost knocking it down. “But no one saw him for years.”

      “Coran said she is pretty sensitive about her omega, so you have to be careful Keith. Don’t push angry alpha no matter what. I think only way to get to them is through her former pupil Lance Mcclaine. He is doing dance therapy and I heard it’s good for anger management.” He winked at Keith, but his brother could see that Shiro’s look was hard and serious under mask of playfulness. Keith knew his brother was against him doing this case, but he wanted it.

       He finally felt excited after months of fruitless work. His grin widened as he slowly walked towards door of Shiro’s office. All he needed was some good lead and new team to work with.

      “I will find Lotor no matter what.”

* * *

 

       Lance wanted to scream. He slowly rose from hard ground of Allura’s studio as he cursed. He fell again on his pirouette and he didn’t understand why. How can someone who was principal dancer in national ballet fall on his pirouette.He sighed and pressed button to play music again. Lance’s favourite activity was to dance his emotions out, and it also helped him to a land new job, in the end, he was grateful he can finally function almost like a normal person after a while. 

       Almost.

      Lance was frustrated, angry, sad and mostly disappointed in himself. After the incident he wasn’t just afraid of water and sea in general, which he loved before, and on top of that, biological functions of his body were fucked up. No, he HAD to quit his dream job, for he worked his whole life because, again his basic biological functions controlling pheromones and heats were so fucked he had to leave.

       It wasn’t safe for him to stay at ballet, manager said to him as he forced him to sign up paperwork, saying he left himself.

       So, yeah. Lance had many reasons to want to scream. But at the same time, he felt hollow, like an empty case, waiting to rot and die. Coran and Allura tried to help him in many ways. But Lance knew he needed change, he needed something, or someone to help him escape gravitation pull of black hole his mind created. He sometimes found himself thinking, how come he can help other people to overcome their problems with dancing alone but it’s not working on him. Dancing was his element. Something he felt comfortable in, lost in rhythm of music, his body creating a story, many times reflecting his own feelings, new or old.

       However, deep down he knew this wasn’t case for some time now.

       Lance looked at his reflection in large mirror. He was visibly thinner than before, it made his clothes hang on him. It wasn’t that big of deal, he just went through heat anyways. Lance knew he can groom his appearance, but if someone looked him properly in eyes, they could see there is nothing of interest there.

       No spark, just dull lifeless veil.

      Someone turned off music with heavy sigh. “Lance, you are not even supposed to be here.” Allura said as she went closer to him. He looked at his old mentor, she was graceful as always, but concern was radiating from her in waves. Lance knew it was his day off, due no clients but he also didn’t want to be stuck at his apartment. Mess there disgusted him.

      Allura took his bag and handed him warm coat. “Come on I will take you home.” Small smile appearing on her lips. ” You will have new client tomorrow, so you need to rest a bit. Coran said his name is Keith Kogane, his captain sends him because he can’t keep a stable team for long, due slight anger issues and Coran though a dance therapy is best way.”

      Lance didn’t answer. Though of work made him bit happy, it will at least distract him from everything else. When Allura locked studio they hurried into warm car, shielded from cold.

      “So, Lance how is blue?” Allura asked after few minutes of silence between them, as she turned to next street. Lance smiled inside his mind, she knew that asking him about his cat always worked to get him talking.

      “You know, lively as always running around apartment, knocking down my stuff thinking she owns the place.”

       “Sounds like her alright. But I hope she won’t knock that beautiful porcelain dolphin your mom got you for your birthday. You know I was thinking I will buy little porcelain cat for Lotor. He always loved cats.” She said with a fond smile “Doctor told me he really wanted to see me. Do you think he would like it?”

        Lance thought about it. He vaguely remembered Lotor from time Allura took him as apprentice. But mostly he knew his personality from her stories. Lance, after finding out about Lotor’s family and all mess around it, found it hard to believe he was Allura’s mate. He still remembered vividly their conversation from few years ago, when they celebrated his birthday, and everything felt fine and right. Lance talked her into going out for drink, he fancied Allura back then which he finds very embarrassing to admit now. They both got bit tipsy and Lance stupidly asked her about Lotor and where he disappeared, trying to find out if he ever got a chance or not. Maybe he was also genuinely curious because Lotor just didn’t show up anymore one day. Allura spilled everything to him that night, about her past, Lotor and mostly about Galra Empire. But she still cared for Lotor, even after all of that. Was it out of love or pity, Lance sometimes wondered.

       “Lance are you even listening?” she asked, concern painting her voice again.

       “I am listening, and I think he would like it but at the same time I think he would just appreciate your company more. After all you didn’t visit him for some time now?”

       “I’ve been very busy with school, but you know that. I actually wanted to ask you if you wouldn’t like to lead one of lessons with me? Of course, if you are okay with it.” They finally stopped before his apartment building. Lance sighed as gathered his things.

       “I don’t think I am ready for that yet Allura.”

      “That’s okay Lance” she hugged him lightly as he was about to get out of car “take care and good luck with that new client, bye.”

      “Bye, be careful.” He said as he shut the door and gave her little wave as she took off. Slowly he dragged himself to apartment building, out of cold wind, shivering little. His climb to second floor usually quick and easy, felt like eternity today and relief washed over him when dark brown door to his apartment appeared in sight. Opening door was a quick affair and as he finally slid in, he was greeted by purring cat sitting on counter by shoe rag.

       His lips finally curled into genuine smile, after whole day as he softly patted the animal. She curled into his hand and purred louder, making him laugh softly with fondness. He scooped her in his arms and together, they faced his seriously messy apartment. He really loathed how it looked. Clothes all over the floor, dirty dishes overflowing in sink, blankets from his nest all over the apartment and albums full of old photos spread on table when he took them out in middle of his heat, crying over them for hours.

       Defeated, he sat down on light blue sofa, Blue moving to lay on his legs keeping him company. He gently stroked her head as he looked around checking if his plants are still alive. They were, and it made him feel calm inside along with warmth coming from Blue as she drifted to sleep in his lap. Lance knew he probably should clean apartment, just a little but he couldn’t find enough energy inside him to do it. He felt like existing was taxing enough these days.

       He sat in silence, patting his cat, thinking about tomorrow. Before he had new client he always wondered if they notice if he was omega. It was silly to think about, because people who come to his lessons are those in need of help, they don’t care about dynamic of their teacher. But this though was ever-present inside Lance’s mind no matter what. Since the accident his smell was very light, more resembling beta than rich smell omega’s usually have. Recently when he had his last therapy session, he mentioned his insecurity caused by lack of smell he had, even when he had heat once in a while. Therapist reassured him it was normal to feel like that. But Lance’s mind didn’t believe that statement much.

      That’s why he always wondered if they notice. Lance needed to face that his last heat fucked him up too much mentally. He can’t live like this anymore. He knows that shards of his being, hastily put together over recent years were about to collapse.

      And he didn’t know how to stop it.

 


	2. Collision of light

            Annoying sound of Lance’s alarm carried through room for solid five minutes now. With soft huff, he finally opened one of his eyes, staring at alarm clock that was trying to wake him up, so he won’t be late for his responsibilities. Lance finally turned off sound that pierced his ears so early in the morning, dragging himself out of bed in the process. He sat on edge of a bed, rubbing his tired eyes, November cold creeping under his skin making him shiver a little.

          ‘Hot shower should make me feel better’ he said with raspy morning voice to no one in particular.

         As he slowly walked out of his bedroom, something soft brushed his leg and fuzzy blue lion slippers. Tired smile painted Lance’s face as he said Good morning, to his hungry cat. She meowed back at him, enjoying sound of his chuckle as they walked to kitchen together. As Lance reached for her food, Blue quietly watched his every movement, until he put food into her bowl. Satisfied, she moved to eat her breakfast, not caring about world for few moments anymore. Lance closed door to bathroom behind him pushing away awfully full laundry basket, making a mental note to wash his clothes when he gets back in the afternoon.

          When hot water brushed his skin, sigh of relief escaped his mouth, body relaxing. Lance always loved hot showers in the morning, it was one of the first favourite things he discovered after finally moving out. Even though, he shared his first apartment with some of his friends, it finally gave him luxury of his own space. He loved his big family, but they never had a concept for ‘me time’. He was used to quick night showers, with usually colder water because his siblings used most of it, he mostly blamed Veronica, who went to shower before him. These memories made him smile as he stood under steady, warm water current. After good ten minutes under water he came out, dried himself and looked into mirror. Lance usually took very good care of his skin, but he had tough month and skin on his face was dried from cold and screamed for his attention. If this day was same as days before, he would only put mental note into back of his mind, lying to himself that he would take care of his skin later, but today was not usual for him. He had to try to look somehow presentable in front of his new client.

       After almost two months, he had client, police officer on top of that. Lance thought about few officers he worked with before, as he put moisturizer on his face. Some were pretty hard to work with. They knew how to follow orders, but for some was very hard to follow what their heart wanted to say. What they needed to express with their movements and body, not just words and following instructions. Some were even embarrassed that they had to ‘dance’ for recovery, but Lance always had same answer for them.

       ‘Movement is basic form of communication, it never lies, it just reflects what you truly feel inside.’

       Allura said these exact words to him after she started to train him, and they stayed with him to this day. Dance therapy was little bit different from ballet, art he learned most of his life, but in the end, it was still movement, it was still dancing. You made what you felt. You expressed emotions that dragged you down.

      When Lance ‘ended’ his ballet career, he was lost once again, but Allura helped him, showed him a way and gave him helping hand to stand up. He went through course needed for him to lead a therapy session. His first client was police officer with trauma, that sometimes caused him aggressive outbursts. They were difficult person to work with, but Lance made progress with them and that was, what mattered most.  But it didn’t make a difference that, now Lance was nervous about his new client, because it felt so familiar to his first ever case. He took a deep breath.  Lance realised, he didn’t even know a dynamic of his new client. He cursed a little, biting his lower lip as he put on light purple shirt. Allura forgot to mention it for some reason, or maybe she didn’t know either. It was sometimes helpful to know dynamic of his clients, because there were cases, mostly if person needed to calm down, to use a bit of pheromones or talking specifically with respect to their dynamic. It sounded ridiculous to his sister Veronica when he first mentioned it, she laughed and told him she was surprised that ‘sweet talk’ used between dynamics in past was still used somewhere.

          She quickly changed her mind after he gave her some examples and explained that for some people it worked for their panic attacks or triggering situations. Lance hoped there won’t be any need to figuring out dynamic of his client, or in the future when he will be working with him.  He grabbed more warm clothes from his closet, layering them so they would protect him from cold. Finally walking out of his room ready to put on shoes and coat, he petted his cat, who was sitting on cabinet near entrance. He quickly laced his shoes, put on coat, said goodbye to Blue and locked door. With new determination filling his mind, he walked down the stairs, opening door to cold morning, welcoming him into its winds.

          As he was walking past school building in his neighbourhood, few snowflakes landed on his nose, making him halt in surprise. Lance never really checked forecast before going outside, but snow was a nice change from wind and fog every morning. It made his mind calmer and he was glad to forget the nervous feeling, that built up in his stomach once again. A group of few children passed him by, talking loudly to each other about some gaming event they saw on the internet. It made him smile as he started to walk towards direction studio was. When Lance was younger, he was very outgoing person. He never felt nervous, like these recent years, almost always sure of himself, making many friends and few partners along the way. But after the horrible accident he had on sea with his friends, his pack, it changed him to his core. He was sole survivor and memory of that nigh haunts him to this day.

      Lost in never-ending space of his mind, he almost knocked into person standing in front of him. Embarrassed he apologized to two patrolling policemen near a school building, watching over crossing. Tall brown-haired policeman with side fringe smiled as his companion, dark skinned woman with short dark pixie cut and sharp gaze nodded at her partner, to go out of Lance’s way.  Lance apologized to both of them for trouble again, just to be sure and quickly walked away from the pair.

        His heart skipped beat when he saw a studio, it always did. As he opened up and walked up to his small space of studio 10, he teaches in, soft snowflakes covering his coat slowly melted away in unforgiving heat of the building. Smell of hardwood floors hit his nose as soon as he walked in. It felt like coming home every time he stepped in there, at second floor of the building. In the end, he practically grown up here. He knew every dent in old floors, slightly chipped paint near door and huge mirrors he looked in every day. Familiar feeling washed over him as soon as he made his way into backroom, hidden behind one of mirrored wall and changed into dancing clothes and shoes he had prepared at home. He knew this lesson won’t be a full-blown experience, he needed to know a client a bit first before dancing, doing basic warm up and try him to open up a bit. Wind howled outside of windows, trembling with them a little, creating steady rhythm Lance moved in towards a spot where radio was. Lance looked at it, his gaze scanning it. Radio sat on stool beside benches, where parents could sit on during ballet classes with young children in this particular room. This wasn’t best time to think about ballet, so to occupy his mind, he closed distance between him and the old radio, trying to think what the best music was to play. He knew they needed simple rhythm to be going at background, to allow his client to sink into it, to allow him to express himself even in simple movements and gestures.

        He changed cd from yesterday to the one with calm and steady rhythms. As calming music poured into sun-lit studio he began to do his stretches. Even now, he used same exact stretches he did before starting his ballet lessons and rehearsals. Doing standard five starting positions few times over. He then moved smoothly into doing plie, revele and saute for some time. After that Lance felt familiar warmth of gently stretched muscle of his feet and small smile appeared on his lips. He always loved doing warm up.

     As he turned music off, sudden cold wind crept through crack between floor and door making him shiver a little. Listening closely for any sound indicating his new client arrived, his heart beat quickened. He heard soft steps on old stone stairs and hallway, followed by sound of opening door beside him revealing man with longer black hair and scowl on his face. His new client arrived.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

          Keith liked to wake up early. It was his morning routine and he hardly broke it, mostly because of ruts he had once in a while. But on cold mornings like this it was harder than usual. Normally he woke up, went out on run with his dog Cosmo, took a shower, made himself a breakfast and went to work.

        ‘But today was different’ he thought, as he made his way out of the bed, feet touching cold floor waking him up more quickly then he would have liked. His whole body was suddenly colder, and, in that moment, Keith was regretting fact that he liked to sleep only in his underwear. Trying to ignore goosebumps on his body he rubbed his eyes and looked around his bedroom.

         Cosmo was already up, sitting next to his closet, waiting for him to be dressed up and ready to go. Fond smile appeared on Keith’s face as he walked through the room to pet a dog’s head. He looked at his clothes, deeply in thought, because he knew it was supposed to snow today. He usually listened to evening news when he was cooking dinner, and they included forecast. His gaze turned towards a window, that was on right side of his closet. It wasn’t snowing, but Keith decided to put on more warmer clothes, just in case. Cosmo nudged at his thigh as he pulled sweater over his head, urging him to be faster. Keith simply smiled and went through open door into living room, straight to the rag where his running shoes rested.  

        Usually hardest part of his getting ready for run routine was when he tried to lace his shoes. Cosmo loved to snuggle with his face when he did it and it always ended with him not seeing a thing through thick fur of his dog. He laughed as he gently pushed Cosmo out of his way to reach for his leash and they went out together to the cold. He was glad he listened to forecast because he was ready for whatever weather it was waiting for him and Cosmo outside.

      As soon as they walked out of the building strong cold wind blew under their skin, but it wasn’t snowing yet. Keith looked around empty morning streets, that were still lit up with soft yellow glow of street lamps. Skies looked dark and heavy with snow ready to fall later in a day. Keith sighed with relief, he never really fancied snow so much as others, always liking warmer climate. He started running, Cosmo next to him, both keeping same rhythm gradually going faster and then slower. Keith spaced out, thinking about his home in the desert, he shared with his dad before he passed away. It haunted him, to some extent, but he also cherished memories he made there, making it his mental safe place.

      They turned around corner, Keith hardly even noticing, his body knowing path all too well, when he saw woman around his age walk out of apartment building. Keith stopped dead in his tracks because he recognized her.

     ‘Acxa!’ he said with happy tone, one has when they see a friend after a long time, ‘I thought you moved into another city.’ Keith continued with disbelief.

      She looked shocked to see a familiar face so early in a morning, but after few moments her expression was neutral once again. ‘Hey Keith, nice to see you.’ She said with bit of amusement in her tone. They looked at each other for a few moments, as if they wanted to read each other, but they both knew that was pretty hard in both cases. She wore a police patrol uniform and by looks of it, she was ready to go on to patrol.

      ‘Nice dog.’ She said gesturing towards large mass of fluff sitting next to him. His gaze flickered from Cosmo to her as he smirked.

      ‘Nice haircut.’ Keith pointed out with raised eyebrow. He was used to her  long hair, as they went everywhere to the point she always complained about it. Now she rocked a pixie cut which framed her dark blue eyes and few of many piercings in her ears. It was nice change Keith would say.

      ‘Care to walk with me?’ she said looking into direction he was headed anyway, so he simply smiled and went to her side, unleashing Cosmo for a bit.

      ‘So, you do patrols now?’ he started with laid back tone as he heard her sigh a little. ‘I worked on big corruption cases before someone pulled strings and got me repositioned back here for morning patrol. It’s so fun.’ She said sarcastically.

     They stopped, waiting for Cosmo to go to them, familiar silence spreading between two old friends. ‘But it’s not that bad after all. Even though I have to do it with someone annoying you know pretty well I believe.’ Look of confusion on Keith’s face made her laugh out loud.

      ‘James Griffin is my partner on patrols. I believe he has to do it also as some kind of punishment, for disobeying an officer but I am not sure.’ Keith smiled after hearing that name. Of course, he knew James pretty well. At the Police Academy they pretty much loathed each other. But it changed for some time as they started to hook up few months before graduation. But that was a long time ago.

    ‘Of course, I remember him, I have to work with him sometimes as well.’ Keith laughed. He knew there wasn’t anything awkward or weird between them anymore, but of course Acxa didn’t know that. ‘Maybe we should go out for some drinks and catch up Acxa.’ He smiled as Cosmo came to him and let Keith to put on leash again.

   ‘That would be nice.’ she gently petted his dog and waved both of them goodbye.

      After that Keith started running again, cold getting to him after few minutes of walking and slowing down. He saw that his dog liked this more than just trailing between trees after him and his friend, so he sped up a little as saying thank you for his patience. Cosmo loved it, and Keith was sure that if his dog knew how to teleport just to be faster, he would do it out of sheer fun.

       When they finally got back to his apartment building, street lamps were already turned off and people walked fast to their destinations. Keith hurried as his hands shivered a little, finally a warm air of his apartment welcomed them back home. He sat down with an intent to put away his shoes, when his dog started to try to snuggle him. Keith chuckled at cuteness of his giant dog, scratching him behind ears a little.

        As he filled his bowl, Keith checked a time, nervousness starting to build up in his stomach as he saw that in just an hour, he had to be ready and go. He went to take a bath, with sour look on his face as he remembered Shiro’s amused face as he tried to weasel his way out of this mess. Keith knew he had trouble trusting people, and it caused his team to fall apart yet again, but that wasn’t really a best reason for his brother to sent him to dance therapy. He believed they had a more important work to do. Keith tied a towel around his hips thinking. Personally, he never even heard of dance therapy before Shiro mentioned it.

     But in the end, he trusted Shiro and he was his senior officer and boss. There was no space left to argue. He went to choose what he should wear.

    ‘What does one wear to this kind of thing?’ he grumbled as his mood did not improve by passing minutes. He looked at fancier clothes Adam gifted him for his birthday that year but decided against it. He chose more laid-back look with classic black jeans, navy blue shirt and black sweater on top. His clock indicated that in few minutes he had to leave, when his stomach grumbled.

      ‘I still have time for small breakfast.’ He mumbled to himself as he went to fridge looking for chocolate yogurt he bought after coming home from work few days before. As he ate, he saw that snowflakes started to fall from a sky and sighed. He really wished that forecast was wrong for one time, but he couldn’t just not go to the session because it was snowing. He wasn’t a kid anymore.

        He threw away eaten yoghurt, put on his shoes, leather jacket with fingerless gloves, that Adam always made fun of and in the end, he tied his favourite red scarf around his neck. Cosmo came to him to snuggle one last time and Keith waved to his dog as he went out of apartment, locking it. As he went to garage to his motorcycle, he thought, about this teacher he was about to meet. It wouldn’t be Keith if he didn’t do a background check. He seemed like a pretty normal guy around his age, with no criminal history. After hour of digging he found out this new teacher of his, or therapist, he wasn’t sure which one man was, was pretty famous in the dancing world. It came as surprise to Keith at first, but later he realized that he shouldn’t be very surprised, mostly because this person was Allura’s number one student.

      Deep in thought, Keith put on helmet and started engine of his motorcycle. He loved driving, but it wasn’t very satisfying at the end of autumn. He went out of garage on streets, speeding past civilians, cars and buildings, dreading his destination. He spotted big old renovated building sitting proudly between theatre and garage. This fact made Keith pretty happy, mostly because he wasn’t keen on leaving his motorcycle out in the cold. He went straight in there, parking on the second floor. He slowly walked towards the building, stretching out time, knowing that he was still bit early, gathering up his nerves. Inside of the building was stunning with high ceilings full of classical paintings of ballerinas and ballroom dances. Right next to the entrance there was a grand stone staircase leading up to next floors. He remembered he had to go to second floor, then to the left corridor and there in the last studio should be his session. Keith breathed in and made his way up, wishing he was already leaving, instead of coming in. He heard some music stop as he was walking towards white door with plate indicating it was studio 10.

       As he opened the door, he was greeted with man standing near it, looking bit surprised. Keith hoped he didn’t arrive too early on accident. Man, before him quickly composted his expression and smiled at Keith, moving towards him.  

      ‘Hello, my name is Lance you must be Keith.’ He said softly, as he extended his hand to him. Keith only nodded as he took his hand and looked at man before him better. They were around same high but there, their similarities ended. Lance’s smile didn’t exactly reach his dark blue eyes, and his brown hair was longer than on photos Keith saw online, but he though this look suited him more.

      ‘So, I guess this is your first time, going to dance therapy?’ he asked while walking elegantly towards the radio. ‘Yes, I don’t really even dance.’ Keith said, while the dread in his stomach got worse.

      Lance hummed as he turned radio on, filling empty spaces in the room with simple rhythm. It calmed Keith’s fears a little and made him feel like he was alone with a music, when Lance’s voice cut into his peace.

      ‘Let me explain first before we actually start. This is not like some dance class, people usually take, it’s more of a… process.’ This statement made Keith eyebrow turn up in silent question as he put aside his jacket and scarf. ‘You see, we start just with little movements or gestures. Let’s say that you express in a gesture how you felt this morning, it doesn’t have to be big, just little movements.’

       Keith wasn’t really sure what he was doing, but he did it anyway, he made a same gesture over few times, when he noticed he spaced out listening just to the rhythm. When he was about to apologize, he noticed that Lance was making same movements as he did. It made him unsure but after a while he relaxed again, his movements being a little smoother.

       They did this for a half an hour, after some time they changed some gestures and movements, both contributing to their little weird dance, mirroring each other. Keith felt like he was in a trans for a moment as beat changed into more steady and slow rhythm. Lance guided their movements into more calming territory, while Keith never realized how fast and defensive his movements were. After few more minutes Lance turned off the music and looked at Keith, as if he was deeply in thought about something.

     ‘Well, that was certainly a strange experience.’ Keith said, trying to fill silence radio left behind, unsure what to do next. Lance laughed a little ‘It is certainly not what most people imagine. Someone once told me they though this would be like that meme where lady was trying to teach freestyle dancing.’

     Keith knew, his ‘teacher’ was trying to light up atmosphere that got a bit awkward again, but a look of confusion on his face made Lance stop for a moment and smile, like he saw an old friend he could talk to about his favourite things.

       ‘If you don’t know what I am talking about just search freestyle dance teacher on YouTube and you will understand.’ Keith was still bit confused, but he made sure to not forget about it later. It seemed a bit strange to him how come they just went from that experience to memes all of sudden.

      ‘I hope we see each other in few days at our next session Keith.’ Lance said as Keith put on his leather jacket, eyeing it critically, but not commenting it. When Keith was about to go out door, tying his scarf, he looked at Lance and finally smiled.

      ‘I think we will.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very sorry for not updating for such a long time.   
> Life got crazy and so much changed in such a short spam of time
> 
> But I am back and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. ♥


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